One of the major benefits of using IngramSpark to self-publish a book is the distribution that's made available to indie authors. When you self-publish with IngramSpark, you have access to one of the publishing industry’s largest global print and ebook distribution networks which makes opportunities to sell your books that much greater.

After you've spent the time and money to edit, design, and market your book, the thought of selling it at a discounted price may seem counterintuitive. However, offering a discount is an excellent way to expand your reach in the book distribution channels. Discounting your book can help get it picked up by retailers. Here's how.

More and more, Amazon and Amazon companies are encouraging or requiring authors and publishers to use them exclusively. Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) offers free ISBNs, KDP Select allows for extra marketing options, and ACX will allow budget-restricted publishers/authors a chance to get an audiobook created and produced for free in exchange for 50% of the profits. All of these options give authors opportunities that they would otherwise have to work harder for, but in exchange, they require that you agree to work with them exclusively. Let’s take a look at them one by one:

You could sell more of your books if you'd answer two questions honestly. First, how often do people think about your book? Second, how often do people think about their own problems? You will probably agree that people think more about how they can solve their own problems, learn something, improve themselves, or be entertained than they do about your book. However, if you can show them how reading your book helps them achieve these things, you are likely to increase your book sales and revenue, so let's cover how to target your book's audience.

If you’re new to the publishing world, book returns may be a bit of an elusive concept. While print on demand services and digital innovations have helped the book business better predict book demand, returns are still an inevitable part of the bookselling process if you’ve chosen to make your book returnable with IngramSpark. We’re here to help you better understand why book returns occur, and help prepare you on how to handle book returns with IngramSpark.

When you embark on the journey of getting a book published there’s a lot to consider and one of the things that should be on your priority list is how much you’ll be pricing your book for, which is a key piece of yourbook metadata. The editors of traditional publishing houses must fill out a profit and loss spreadsheet (P&L) before they can even acquire a book, let alone publish a book. The P&L accounts for decisions they’ll need to make in order to turn a profit on the book they hope to add to their list. One of the best places to start when determining the profit goals of your book publishing endeavors is to seriously consider how you'll be pricing your book.

In the past, getting independent booksellers to shelve self-published books was a difficult prospect. Indie booksellers were reluctant to sell self-published books, based on theold biasthat self-published meant poor content or poor quality. But that was then and this is now. Not only have self-published authors upped their game when it comes to content, but the quality of self-published books is highly competitive with those of traditionally published books. So just how do you go about selling your book to independent bookstores?

It has to be said thatprint on demand (POD)has changed the way the publishing industry does business. But before we talk about the wonders of POD, let’s define what it is. In a nutshell, it's the process by which a book is printed when an order for that book is received. With POD there’s no inventory being stored or anticipated demand being measured—get a book order, print a book, one at a time.

The author and publishing world has been abuzz with the recent news from Amazon that its CreateSpace print on demand business is now being folded into its Kindle Direct Publishing program that launched officially a few years ago. Whether or not this action will be a positive move for authors will inevitably be seen in time. But today, IngramSpark client support is blowing up more than normal with questions from authors asking us what it all means. The question we used to get most often was, "What's the difference between IngramSpark vs CreateSpace?" Now it seems the question will be, "What's the difference between IngramSpark vs KDP?" So, I will attempt to help clarify with as much information as I have.

You've written a great book, set up your printing and distribution, made it available online and—good news—it's selling! Now you want to sell it to brick-and-mortar stores but aren't sure how to get it on their shelves. You might also be wondering about the difference between independent vs chain bookstores. Is there a difference in how you should approach them? Here's what you need to know.